Australia or Slovakia?

The delegates of each country will vote on the venue for the
2005 Summer Deaf World Games tomorrow, March 8. The two competing countries,
Australia and Slovakia have been busy campaigning for everyone’s vote. Both
countries have wonderful things to offer as well as some disadvantages. The CISS media team interviewed representatives from both groups:

Australia: Everyone thinks it will be too
hot, but it is not too hot in Melbourne during the first two weeks in January.
It is only 20°-30°c (75°-90°F). Melbourne is a big city with 3,200,000
residents. At first, we considered Sydney but decided that Melbourne would be a
better place because we have excellent sports facilities. There are 8 sports
venues under one roof (e.g. basketball, handball, and swimming). All the venues
are already built. For 16 games, the Games have been in Europe and it is time
for a change. Melbourne is a warm, friendly, and very safe environment. Many of
the people who will be involved with the organizing committee have a lot of
experience with different World Games, and this will make us better organizers.
It will be organized by deaf people, but there will be some hearing people to
help out. Some people feel it is too far from Europe, where most of the
competiting countries are from. We realize that the cost of the flight is
expensive but the cost of living in Melbourne is cheap. We have been able to
find some willing sponsors to help those countries that have difficulty
affording the travel expenses. Although we are nervous about tomorrow’s vote, we believe we have a 60% chance of winning.

Slovakia: We hope to build a sports center which will be about 24 square kilometers. The sports center will have a theatre, athletics center, shops, 3,000 beds (for athletes and fans). The railway stops nearby, and the stadium for the opening and closing ceremony is also nearby and has 500 beds. The roof of the stadium can open and close, depending on the weather. We will have a leisure and aqua center at the sports center also. We already have some sponsors who are willing to finance the Games. We also have a long history of hard workers and we are very good at organizing different sports events. Kosice is very inexpensive and it will be easy for many countries to come to the Games. We also have a lot of history and culture to offer. We are aware that the sports center has not been built yet and it will be finished by 2003. After the Games, ten percent of the sports center will be donated to the deaf association. We are hopeful that we will win tomorrow!